The Blue Green Blog

The UK government has proposed that new carbon levies on oil companies and airlines could be used to pay for the planting of 100 million trees per year in the UK as a response to the current climate emergency.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) produced a new report that shows how important it is for fundamental changes in land use to be made, to cut emissions from farming and get the nation on track to meet its legal target of net zero by the year 2050. In order to reduce emissions from agriculture, the CCC suggests cutting red meat eating by 20%, and moving to more plant-based diets. Other suggestions include management of manure, cutting methane from cattle with better feeds and growing crops that can be burned to produce electricity instead of natural gas.

This plan would cost £1.4bn a year but it would also provide benefits of at least £4bn by cutting global heating and air pollution and improving flood protection and green spaces for people to enjoy.

Part of the CCC’s plan is the proposal that new levies on fossil fuel suppliers, airlines and other carbon-emitting industries pay for the tree-planting programme.